Current cleric report spiked?

  • Thread starter Chocks away
  • Start date
And well done to the BBC and McIntyre in particular. How come RTE doesn't do such programmes. Oh yes, they cannot now they have been silenced by the errors they made recently. Wonder was it an error or a very clever trap.[/QUOTE]

You're obviously a fan of conspiracy theories.
 
It would be interesting to know if the government have any plans for involvement in the forthcoming Eucharistic Congress this summer.

(ie Government ministers meeting Vatican officials as they step off planes etc..)

If they have then they should take a serious step back.
 
Liamos said:
I thinks its very unfair to say that priests are all a pack of.......

I know many decent priests who work very hard but find themselves tarred with the same brush as these child abusers.
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In my job I have very close dealings with priests and the parish and I have dealt with many good/bad/indifferent priests in my time but I've come to the realisation that the party line is their mantra and christian values etc. are overlooked if necessary.

Some priests that I thought were the salt of the earth turned out not to be. The latest parish priest I'm dealing with hasn't got a humane bone in his body. He makes very disparaging remarks about the children I teach/their families and he is in no way compassionate towards people.

Just for the record ... when I said a pack of ... I didn't mean child abusers I meant more like shysters ..... for many different reasons - the priest who lacks basic compassion (a priest who can confide in me whilst whispering out loud that he doesn't like a certain child in my class within earshot of said child etc. ), the priest who tells an 80 year old woman to stay at home from mass, the priest who is a regular dink driver .... and so on.

I have no time for priests anymore (as a collective) because of the far from priestly views and traits they show.

While I was growing up I saw/was taught that priests were infallible and I was led to believe that priests were one group guaranteed a place in heaven ... 'tis far from heaven's gate a lot of them are I'm afraid.

Cardinal Brady, if he had any sense of moral duty, would have resigned long ago. But no ... he'll hang on and the Vatican will back him. Power, power, power .... so unlike the This post will be deleted if not edited immediately I teach about in my religion class.

I was raised a Catholic but I have no more feeling for it anymore. I do my duty in school - I teach religion and I prepare the children for the sacraments as would be expected of me ... but personally I'll take my chances when I die ... if there is a God he can judge me on my deeds and not on whether I was a good, loyal member of his club on earth .... a club run by shysters that I don't want to be part of.
 
I would recommend that if there are people out there who believe in a god or gods and think that This post will be deleted if not edited immediately was a pretty decent bloke who made some very sensible points then they should become Protestants.
There's a wide variety of Protestants - from High Church Anglicans who do all sorts of mumbo-jumbo Roman Catholic type stuff (Crossing themselves, swinging smelly stuff around, lots of gaudy outfits, idols etc) to the most austere Presbyterian/Methodist - no ornaments, one sombre black outfit for priests -sorry,ministers.

Really, with such a wide choice of types of worship, there is no reason for so-called Christians to remain in the R.C. Church -and if some Irish people can't stomach the idea of attending Protestant services for atavistic historic reasons ther's now a few Orthodox churches available -really colourful and as incomprehensible as when the R.C. priests did their stuff in Latin.
 
Cardinal Brady should do the honorable thing and just go, he will be forced out in any event. The longer he sits at the helm of his organisation the more damage he will do by him refusing to go.

He has absolutely no credibility left.
 

I love your posts on religion, they always make me smile.
If I was a Christian I'd be a Protestant (church of Ireland).
 
Actually Purple you don't have to be a Christian or even believe in gods to join your local CoI church. In Ireland, more than in many countries, the church is often the local community centre. We all need social intercourse and if one does not worship at the God of Golf shrine ,the church is a great alternative.
The service has usually three or four songs and the loud sound of the choir hides the fact that one has a crap voice, so there's no need to just mouth the words -it is really quite good fun to join in.

The sermons don't last too long -any clever priest knows that long boring sermons reduce the size of his/her flock !(Notice -the "her" bit.It's great -there are women priests here).
Afterwards, everyone has coffee and biscuits and chats . The priest is usually married with a family and ,as I say, can be a woman. The odds are that he/she is far less likely to have raped little children than your average RC priest. And you know that most of the congregation are decent middle-class people, none of whom vote for Sinn Fein- so from a social and political perspective you'd fit in.

Above all, nobody goes down every morning to church worshipping idols, swinging their rosary beads and plastering ash on their foreheads. Any sign of excessive religious zeal would be anathema to the average CoI congregant. Nutters like that tend to get born again and become bloody evangelicals.

So, Purple -and anyone else looking for a bit of social life on a Sunday- do pop along to your local CoI church. There's a lot of exRCs doing just that.
 
This good priests tarred by tiny majority argument gets on my nerves.

Where were all the good priests when evil was prospering? They all knew there was a problem decades ago. Where was the internal agitation to sort out the abuse? Any other organisation would have internal revolts until such problems were resolved. They all facilitated the abuse by their silence or their acceptance of the 'moving-on' policy for dodgy priests.
How many priests stood up in public and admitted the Roman CC had a serious problem? What were they afraid of? Surely protecting little children goes above all other considerations for a priest. Cloyne shows us that they still wont report abuse if they can get away with it. They were afraid to relinquish their power and the Vatican corporation has them all tightly bound.

Daly had 30 years as a bishop/cardinal to sort out the reporting of child abuse but there is little evidence that he did anything. His work-to-rule excuse absolutely sickens me. Resign, you're a disgrace.
 
oldnick said:
Actually Purple you don't have to be a Christian or even believe in gods to join your local CoI church. In Ireland,
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How does one go about becoming a member? Is there an initiation ceremony or some sort of joining ritual? I am thinking of joining in London if I did it in Ireland some of my connservative Catholic family would probably disown me.
 
Cashier -I'd like to say that one takes a picture of the Pope and stamps, spits or worse on it.
But in reality, it's no different than entering a RC church except there are no gymnastics on entering- such as crossing oneself or kneeling. And don't look around for idols, weeping or otherwise, nor confession boxes . Otherwise it's just the same.

There's no shaking of hands with germ carrying strangers, (i don't know if you RCs do this during your normal service but during the twenty de rigeur funerals that everyone attends annually down here I always seem to be shaking hands with some old woman sitting next to me, not always my wife) .
Finally,there's less communions, no bell tinkling, and more singing. Join !

Don't worry if you err . Many ex-Catholics do at first , mumbling in Latin, claiming the Virgin Mary is giving them some message, and whipping out their rosaries. But as a quarter of my local congregation are exRcs that's fine- occasional lapses into popery are forgive. Even our priest is an exRC -and a married woman.

The Anglican church is very broad and accepts many varieties of worship, behaviour, genders, sexual proclivities -and degrees of religious belief, such as mine which are none.

So, Cashier, go along and act in any way you like, except, well, don't be over friendly - the English influence means that a little reserve is well regarded in strangers. Excessive jolliness may mean one of those African clapping and dancing churches is more appropriate.

Please know that in London very few English people go to Anglican churches and, depending on where you live, you may end up with a Jamaican accent.

Why not go to your nearest CoI church tomorrow morning? Depending where you live you may see me there. I'll be the one looking like he's reading the Bible during the sermon ,whilst actually posting AAM on my blackberry.
 

This is possible the most interesting post on this thread. I guess most people assume that when teachers are teaching this stuff, they do actually take it to heart. But it seems the reality is a bit different.

Is there anything you can do within your school to make it a bit more inclusive? I'm not talking about changing the ethos (though there's a bit of that coming down the line), but just make sure that the non-Catholic children get fully included in school events and activities? I've seen one school doing the 'If your child is not going to the Mass, then send them to school at 11am, not 9am' thing, which seems to be designed to 'punish' non-Catholic families, and particularly working parents.
 

And Complainer that is exactly what is going on in Irish schools and non Catholics have no choice but to put up with it. It has affected nieces and nephews of mine.

Another niece was fully included by the teacher, and the local priest was most surprised when he called to ask questions about communion etc to discover that the non Catholic knew more than the other children. Her parents ensured that she understood what it was about. My impression about religion for a lot of Irish families is that the kids think communion is about a white dress and money.
 
Bronte said:
And Complainer that is exactly what is going on in Irish schools and non Catholics have no choice but to put up with it. It has affected nieces and nephews of mine.
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Funnily enough, I hear mixed feedback on how common this practice is. It happens in my daughter's school, but a few teachers tell me they've never come across this happening - see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=76107502

There is always a choice. This stuff will only happen as long as people stay quiet about it. Parents need to speak to principals and Board of Management members to get these non-inclusive practices changed.
 
That's awful Complainer, telling kids not to come to school until 11 because they are not Catholic. Message loud and clear to those parents. Lily the teacher is lovely, what a kind Christian woman, just what kids need.

Re boards of management, in the case of the niece above and the awful experience, parent was a member of the parents association (or whatever it's called).
 
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Sometimes Oldnick's posts are like an episode of the Simpsons where you have to read them several times to make sure you catch all the jokes.

And within all that, I think nick has a solid message: if the RC church's ethos is differing from yours, then leave the Church. The current media and popularist drive for church reform is misguided. If I only liked a handful of Beatles songs, but hated all the rest, then I wouldn't call myself a Beatles fan. If you can only agree with some of the RC church's messages but disagree with all the rest, then perhaps you're not a RC. It's a cop out to your own values expecting a Church to waterdown its stance just so perople can be comfortable still having their token crutch of saying they're catholic when quite clearly they are not. You either stay on message and defend the church's stance and influence on sexuality, canon law, abortion, education, healthcare all society's problems stemming from secularisation or you get off that ship.

Religion seems a lot like politics, in that people will always support FF (FG, Labour, SF or whoever) irrespective of how corrupt, self-serving and inept those in power prove to be.

Brady won't resign and he shouldn't. He acted fully within canon law which is what is more important to him and those he leads and those he is led by. So in the eyes of the Pope and therefore God, he's done absolutely nothing wrong. Sure, it sticks in the craw that an insitution can put its own laws above those of the State and above the innate moral code of every living human and be completely immune. It's a service that I'm sure the Gardai and the Government would also provide to any Muslim Cleric who puts Sharia Law above that of the state.
 

+1m
 
oldnick said:
The priest is usually married with a family and ,as I say, can be a woman. The odds are that he/she is far less likely to have raped little children than your average RC priest.
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Liamos said:
Can any poster just make statements like this without being checked?
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I agree. The comment is completely uncalled for. Most child abuse takes place in the family home by married family men. Being married with a family doesn't make you any less likely to be a child sex offender than any other demographic.

Being a man doesn't automatically mean you are likely to abuse children. Being a priest doesn't either.
 

Sunny - perhaps Im misreading, but I dont think the comment re odds less likely to have raped a child is related to the comment of the priest usually being married with children. Thats not how I read it anyway.

The actual facts would suggest paedophilia is a bigger problem in Protestant churches:


Strangely there seems to be little or no media coverage of this.

If you do even a quick google you will find that the above source seems to be backed up by many online sources. I havent actually come across a study that shows that RC priests are more likely to be abusers than any other ministers/rabbis/sports coaches/teachers etc..

It would appear the media has certainly generated a false prejudice towards RC priests in this regard.
 
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